The present invention relates to release agents, that is, compositions useful in reducing or eliminating adhesion between the surfaces of two separate, normally solid objects. Release agents customarily are found to be useful when two solid surfaces are placed in close proximity to each other and are subjected to operations or conditions which tend to urge one surface toward the other. Interposing the release agent between the surfaces reduces or eliminates the adhesion which would otherwise make separation of the surfaces difficult or impossible.
The present invention relates in particular to release agents useful in the food industry and/or particularly in the baking industry. Breads and other bakery products are customarily baked in pans having sides and a bottom whose surfaces are usually coated with a hard, adherent glaze designed to be a permanent part of the pan. The glaze aids in obtaining the release of the bread or other bakery product from the pan after baking. However, after repeated uses the glaze on the pans can become thinner and/or can be damaged or chipped during handling of the pan, resulting in the glaze having reduced effectiveness and resulting in increased adhesion of the baked product to the pan. Even when the glaze has not suffered reduced effectiveness through use, the glaze itself is often not sufficient to allow products to release sufficiently quickly from the pan.
Traditionally, combinations of edible oils and mineral oils have been used as release agents to enhance the release properties of the glaze and to extend the length of time between reglazing operations. Other surfactant products have also been tried. However, the oils and other surfactants that have been used up to now suffer from drawbacks. For instance, the release agent may undesirably affect the taste, texture or appearance of the baked product. Often, the oil used as release agent is too expensive to permit the necessary frequency of use economically. In addition, many liquid surfactant compositions prove to be too fluid, such that when they are applied to the sides of the pan, the composition runs down the sides and collects in the bottom; thus, insufficient amounts of release agents are left on the sides of the pan where they are needed, and the excessive amounts of release agents accumulating in the bottom of the pan can damage the quality of the baked product.
The challenge of providing a release agent useful in bakery industry applications is complicated by several constraints. For instance, of course, the product has to be absolutely safe for ingestion by the consumer. The product also needs to be tasteless, or else to impart an innocuous or unnoticeable taste. In addition, the product should be easily applied and then easily removed when removal is desired upon cleaning of the baking pan. The components should also be economical, readily formulated, and readily available in the commercial chemical market. Also, the product needs to be able to withstand the conditions of usage encountered in baking operations, including cycles of temperature from room temperature to several hundred degrees above room temperature, repeatedly, without suffering any degradation of chemical composition and without suffering physical degradation such as phase separation, crystallization, and the like.
Accordingly, there is still a need for a surfactant composition useful as a release agent in the baking industry having the advantages described herein while avoiding the disadvantages enumerated hereinabove.